wi prospecting report

[BadgerGold]

Hey guys,

Have yet to get a flash in the pan here in SE Wisconsin since I started about 8 months ago. Have tried two creeks by lake Michigan and panned lake michigan black sand as well.

Yesterday I went to black earth creek by cross plains Wisconsin west of Madison about 20 miles. Wisconsin mining website said placer gold can be panned there. Only dug two shallow holes got there late in the day cause I spent 3hrs at us cellular getting phone fixed but as I got deeper, about 3/4 of a foot only I saw more black sand, material was getting harder too so I think there could be gold deeper down. Spent alot of time trying to get sluice set up I'm like **** its almost dark I only did one test hole! Definitely gonna go back though its the only close report on the mining guide.

I'm going to try a different spot in WI in a couple weeks stay a night at a cheap motel nearby so I can hopefully get a full two days. I KNOW for a fact there is a gold producing creek where I'm going so I will hopefully update this in a few weeks.

Just joined the gpaa and will be going to the WI meeting next Saturday and hopefully get some knowledge as well as maybe more areas to go. I know where to look for gold and how to pan and sluice, spent almost all the time since I got into prospecting.reading.books and threads on here, as well as setting.up the sluice.perfectly.

So I'm not a total idiot lol obviously have alot to learn especially the little things that you all know what I mean, what to bring what not to bring, tricks of the trade etc. I envy you guys that live where there's gold everywhere even nuggets cause here in WI especially the SE...glacial gold is a bi--- to find.

Anyways any other wi prospectors or anybody in general wanna share their thoughts feel free, hope to have some good news in a couple weeks! Have to find at least one flake before winter, I'm a newer prospector but have the fever like all of you

Ben "BG"

 

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[Hefty1]

I moved from Oak Creek Wis, back in 84...went to Phoenix Az then in 92 to Sac, Ca.
Alot more gold out this way.

 

[KevinInColorado]

Good luck with the search!

 

[BadgerGold]

Thanks Kevin. Yeah I bet you got alot o gold over there I'm jealous, think I may move when I'm older I'm only 23. Ik theyneed firefighters and paramedics out there and I'm both!

 

[63bkpkr]

Starting from the Mid West

Hello BG Ben,
I started moving west in 1957 when my family moved from place to place starting in Detroit. The only gold in Detroit is what is on an Eagle Claw #6 hook unless you are at a Pawn Shop. I finally reached Northern California (NorCal) early in the summer of 1961, I was 17 and my wheels were the two on my bicycle. I had been told about this place out of Sacramento that was along the North Fork of the American River (NFAR) and wanted to go there though as I did not read the mountaineering manual that was passed out at birth I know NADA! I graduated from High School in 1962 and started college that fall. I took a PE class that demanded everyone to be very though and strong. Took the intermediate class of the same course the next semester. I attended my buddy's PE class and then went to mine immediately following his. Needless to say I was in good shape but still outdoors dumb. But that was when February of 1963 came along and I went into the mountains to find this place that I did not even know where the trail was. I made it to the bottom of the canyon safely and found the river was wall to wall, Roaring, milk chocolate brown from all the runoff dirt in it, Large Sugar Pine trees were swiftly going down river and boulders were bouncing off the bottom of the river. It was the most dynamic scene I had ever been in and I wanted MORE! I was Hooked!!

I've now backpacked this area for the past 50 years as of this year and I still can not get enough of it! The country side, the fishing, the swimming, the exploring, the camping/backpacking are all great. Somewhere in the late 60's or early 70's I dipped my first pan in the water and have been doing it ever since. I purchased the first Fisher Gold Bug somewhere I guess in the 70's and never found a single piece of gold with it. (likely as I did not get out enough or practice with it at home). As I paid attention some to what folks were telling me I began to find flake gold and that really started the bug. In 2007 I purchased a White's GMT and under the same conditions as my ownership of the first detector it took me some time to put the coil over gold but I finally did. I've now practiced more with that machine and in the right place I find gold with it, that would be in the classic 49er gold country.

Of course in the past several years we've been systematically stripped of our rights for certain types of prospecting, and that would be dredging. The real gold is on the bottom of the rivers and the only way to get to it Without Tearing the forests down is dredging. Folks who dredged did ok to fairly good while some energetic types die really well. The ones that did really well became good at reading rivers as well as doing research work during the winter months, combine those two and you've got gold in your sluicebox every cleanup. One summer I was on a 49er river camping for two weeks for several nights now I'd been sitting at camp for my evening meal just looking around at the beautiful place I was in, just looking up and down river. As my eyes swept up and down river from the water to the sky I kept noticing this large rock on the other side of the river, for several nights I did this. Finally one night I just got up off of my dead butt and walked across the river to check this rock out. The next day I started in early moving rocks out of the way, there was a large crack from top to bottom of the rock at the down river end of the rock (that is where gold should accumulate) and I wanted to get into the crack. After the rocks were moved I placed the pry bar into the crack and that hunk of the rock slowly peeled off and dropped into the very shallow water. There was a flat dead root that had been in there for many years along with some dirt and I put all of it into a 5 gallon bucket and washed everything as well as could possibly been done. It took me some time to pan all the raw sample down but I did and in the last pan I found my first flat nugget gold picker. (that is a lot of definition of an object there). I spent the rest of the summer at this one spot working a "49er Adventure" as I sure was doing it the same way they did it! By the time I finished I had about a 1/4 oz. of the prettiest flat nuggets I had ever seen. If I wasn't hooked before I certainly was then.

During that 4 week period of time I panned samples from a bucket, wised up and detected the buckets of raw sample and if the detector did not go zip zip when I waved it over the raw material I knew I did not have gold in it. Then I needed to move much more dirt/raw sample so I purchased a sluice box and combined it with the detector, 5 gallon bucket, pan system and recovered more gold quicker but it still took a lot of work. Since then I've found more small pieces of gold with the detector and some while panning but not like "That Spot". Oh, at the end of the year I had a nice 5' to 6' long trench cut about 2' to 3' wide and it looked ugly so I back filled it with boulders. When I finished the back filling I realized I'd made a natural heavy metal trap! Since that time I've managed to require shoulder surgery and that has kept me from re-opening my "heavy metal trap" to see if anything else has fallen in there. It will wait till another year.

And that BG Ben is one mans story of how he went from the mid west to the west and found gold. Just being out in this country is worth the effort IF you enjoy being "out there". The prospecting takes time away from the general exploring, swimming, fishing and enjoying the children so be careful of that as once they grow up you will not have them to play with that much, at least I consider having my three children with me out there is play time with them.

Oh, there are also a few drawbacks to getting into a place where you might not see anyone else for two weeks. These drawbacks either slither, have 8 legs to 6 legs, have 4 legs and steal your food or have 4 legs and ruin you camp at the same time they steal your food. OR I'm referring to snakes and slugs, spiders and beetles, squirrels, possums, racoons and bears and ants and mosquitoes and ground nesting yellow jackets and likely a few I'm not recalling at the moment like ticks. Still the experience is well worth it.

The information here on Tnet is top notch if not too much information to be able to digest. Most likely a person can find an answer to whatever question they have if you look hard enough or ask long enough. Try to teach yourself by reading a variety of posts here and then start asking. That is about what I did though I did go "out there" quite a bit before I'd even found Tnet and then I started asking my newbie questions, people were kind to me but they really warmed up to me when I started posting pictures so I post them whenever I can cause we All like pictures taken "out there". Have fun wherever you are having adventures!..............................63bkpkr



Fishing "way back in" on a 200' waterfall spillway

Usually and for many years I fished along the main river: fish a pool, walk the rapid, fish a pool and repeat. It they aren't in the pools then fish the rapids.

I'm out 'splorin', note the 500' waterfall in the dark section of rock in the upper right corner of the picture

The first 'picker' out of the crack in that rock

Cleaning the sluice box

The total take at the end of the summer

Up on the ridge line before going "down in There"

 

[KevinInColorado]

I think we can be sure that topless pic will keep him out of CA 63!

Funny think is that I started out in metro Detroit too and quit my job to move to CO...never looked back!

Badger I think you can be sure we need your skills out here so start packing!

Oh, one other thing 63...there is wild gold in SE Michigan thanks to the glaciers. I know of several spots in metro Detroit but I ain't tellin'.

 

[GarretDiggingAz]

I know of several spots in metro Detroit but I ain't tellin'.

Its in the sewers isn't it Kevin. Lol

Yeah there's gold around our neck of the woods. It's like 63bkpkr says part of it's just the getting out. Enjoy those younger years. Learn as much as you can. No matter what have fun. It's not get rich quick and it's a lot of work. Or as I tell the kids "fun". We go out and watch the stars and moon, or as we stumble across some wildlife I try to explain which ones to be careful of (poisonous kinds). I'm new at this game, especially since I've had more time being on disability. Lol. I just don't move the heavy stuff. That's where the kids come in place, and/or mind being used to let gravity work for ya. Gig here push there.
I hit 4 flakes after having gold pans sit behind the seat for two years. Went through a wash that had a waterfall and thought there's gold there. Did this at night. So after a gust blew my container off the hood and lost the gold. I figured I deserved it. Lol
63bkpkr has some nice pics of the sierras. I had an invite years ago to go there but didn't. Work world wanted me. Lol
So I'd tell ya if west is where you'd like to go. Then go. Don't be sitting there ten years from now saying "What if". I'm sure paramedics are needed.

 

[BadgerGold]

Wow 63 what an awesome post! I'd love to hear more about your life, something my generation unfortunately doesn't do enough of not only respecting their elders but also listening to them! Something my paramedic instructor taught us that I found really neat was when you get that call at 3am for an elderly who fell, instead of looking at an "old has been" take a look on their wall or just talk to them if they're not too far along in Alzheimer's/dementia you'd be amazed what kind of life they led when they were 23 like me etc. you're nowhere near that point so don't take offense to that! I really envy the life you're living, thanks for the photos too.

Colorado you're right and I'm going to definitely be doing some soul searching. As to whether I want to leave my extended family ma dad gparents etc. For a few years

 

[KevinInColorado]

Garret -it may be in the sewers since it seems to be a lot of places around here! I sampled 3 spots today (4-5 buckets at each got dumped into my bazooka Goldtrap Prospector)... And I found decent gold at all three. Sweeeet! No pics yet as I am taking a friend and his 12 year old daughter out on Sunday afternoon ( apparently her idea!!) and so I'm saving my cons for them to practice panning with before we dig. Badger- life is short, you are young, live LARGE!!

 

[GarretDiggingAz]

Kevin.
Yeah I've been playing with my dirt a little bit at a time. Only did 2-1/2 gallons and got some good color for that amount of dirt. Just didn't have the energy to push a couple 5's to build up cons. I've got a couple from Canada that wants to play. So I figure I should get a nice bucket for them to try out. Tomorrow's another day.
Hopefully I'll run a 18 gal tote. I'm curious to check out the kids buckets. Lol. They came from a different spot on my hill.

 

[BadgerGold]

I was going to wait until tomorrow but I'm too excited. I finally found some Wisconsin gold! I only had time for two shallow holes one of which had one micron-sized piece of gold. I found it within the first 10 minutes I was so excited! I then found the perfect spot to set up my sluice. I did not have to tweak it at all it was like the sluice spot sent from God! Then I dug another shallow hole by the sluice, very rocky on surface hard to dig, top stuff also looked different than the gold bearing stuff I first dug in. It was just starting to look better and have more black sand before i stopped, but I did not find any color in a few test pans but still ran the material through my sluice. I then went back to my first hole got a couple more shovels full before dark and ran them through my sluice I ended up with about 6 very small pieces of gold micron size they're hard to see but hey its gold and I'm happy! I'm going back tomorrow and am going to hit it hard all day. I plan on trying spots near the sluice so I don't have to carry the material so far because it's so damn heavy lol. I am going to try by some bedrock rocks that I saw theres a spot between the cracks as well as under tree roots/moss. This is my first time at this area so I don't know where the good gold is in the creek. I know there's gold there though and saw a video of a guy who got about a gram in a day so I know there's better spots I just have to find them. I just wanted to tell you guys because I was so excited whether or not any of you care I don't know but my sluice is officially not a gold virgin anymore and neither are my pans! I'm very excited wish me luck tomorrow and I'll talk to you guys later and give you a report if anybody cares...lol

I'm still torn whether I should just dig deeper in the spot I found the specs or not... I'm probably first going to try between the bedrock cracks and under the roots which are near the sluice etc. because the Glacial gold has probably piled/deposited there more than in the middle of the creek. Tomorrow all morning is gna be sample sample sample lol, then I'll decide and get to sluicing.

Take care

Ben

 

[KevinInColorado]

Great news dude, congrats and good luck tomorrow!

PS post some pics of your sluice and gold!

 

[BadgerGold]

I'm so mad my samsung galaxy is messed up but I'm picking it up Friday I'll be able to take pictures of the gold then and the sluice but unfortunately right now can't take it in action this loaner I'm using doesn't have enough memory to take pics it has no SD card...

 

[GarretDiggingAz]

Way to go Badger!!! Nothing like finding that color. No matter how small. Lol. I think we always wish it was bigger.
I've heard bad stuff about galaxy. Short battery life for one. Today's technology can't seem to get it right.
I'm still sitting on 60 gallons of dirt to run. Ran some red clay dirt for my daughter. Got 3 pepper sized flecks and several micro sized I call fly poop. Hopefully tomorrow I'll tackle my sons 10 gallons from another hole. Then on to mine.
Actually ran 2-1/2 gals of my dirt and got 25+ fly poops and around 5 flecks. Love my spot I've got. Just need energy to do it. Have to work around doctor visits and stuff.
Keep it up. See if you can track where old stream was. I'm sure it's shifted. Try the inside of a bend and work it downstream. You'll find a streak there somewhere.
How deep till bedrock?

 

[BadgerGold]

Here is the gold from my first WI gold adventure. As you said AZ lot of fly poop sized gold! Lol, I still have the 2nd cleanup cons to go through so I will update with the full amount. Those bigger chunks started coming towards the end when I got deeper in the hole I was working, I was also working it at an angle under some vegetation and splashing water to loosen the dirt under the vegetation roots without going too far to ruin/kill the plants. I also filled in my hole when I was done, i feel its important as prospectors we do this because I love the area I was and don't want it to become illegal/outlawed.

Again, should def have about the same amount in the next cleanup maybe less, its amazing how much glacial gold hides in your cons/black sand. I really have to tediously backwash and tap to get every small piece, which one fly poop seems worthless but it adds up quick. In the future I may have to invest in a miller table with a recirculating pump or something to go through my cons faster and still get every tiny piece. Backwash n tap is working just fine right now, actually will give me something to do in the winter months actually I wish I had more to go through...

 

[KevinInColorado]

Congrats, you are on the right track for sure.

 

[63bkpkr]

NOTE: I attempted to send this as a PM but me being wordy, I overshot their 5000 limit by 2500 extra letters so I'm putting it up here.

Hello there Badger Gold,
Every place needs firemen/paramedics! I've a feeling you are a good person and therefore you've built a good reputation as a solid worker in you field. This is important as good references are quite helpful when relocating, they have been for me.

Even in Michigan I enjoyed exploring and hiking even though I was a 'chunky kid', never did and still do not enjoy running. The bicycle is a whole other thing though as are walking and backpacking even with heavy packs. In Michigan our parents shared with us there enjoyment of the out of doors both fishing & hunting as well as camping and swimming. The family broke up when I was something like 6 years of age, interesting realization here as I was 12.5 when we up and moved from Michigan or just another 6 years and we were gone. Moved to Illinois where shooting with the .22 rifle really took off, BB gun before that except when out hunting with Dad. Rat shooting in the garbage dump of a small Illinois town at night can be quite exciting.
Then Phoenix Arizona where I wandered the desert with the Beagle and the .22 rifle. Found hard rock mines and one good sized covered up hole in the ground and from how the back wall glistened and Moved when the flashlight shined on it I'd say it was loaded with spiders, I left it alone. Then SoCal (southern california) and in 61 NorCal. I've bounced around some since then Virginia, Arizona (Phoenix 2nd and last time), NorCal, Washington State, Oregon and NorCal again but likely not for long.
My girl friends mother shared a tale with me of how she had hiked into this river canyon out of Sacramento and how it was so beautiful. I went off to find the place and one February morning in 63 I ate my Oatmeal breakfast in the front seat of my 1949 Willys 4x4 pickup truck, after which I left the security of the cab to see if I could find the trail down into the canyon. [a note here: I brought with me my 44Magnum revolver, the clothes on my back a wool coat and nothing else, not even brains]. So I stepped out of the truck and turned left, the trail was to the right. I circled the mountain top till I accidentally came across the trail, roughly a 1/4 of the way down. Lets back up a moment here - February in NorCal in the mountains is cold,wet or frozen and can be unkind to those entering its outback without thought. It was snowing at the truck and raining where I found the trail so I continued down. The forest was so wet that nothing made a sound when I stepped on it and that is part of the reason I was able to walk right up to a small group of deer munching grass on the lone flat spot in the canyon.
So I'm roughly 2200' down the mountain in this river canyon that I know nothing about, I mean zero save for the fact there is a river in the bottom of the canyon. So from Michigan the highest thing there was the dirt covered garbage dump we would sled down in the winter ONLY. Here there are high mountains, rocky cliffs, mixed Oak and Pine forests and this river that is Roaring, extending from rocky wall to rocky wall, milk chocolate brown, moving swiftly Down river carrying huge sugar pine trees roots and all, boulders bouncing off the bottom of the river bed and I am totally consumed by the grandeur of the scene or spectacle in front of me. I'm hooked! No drugs needed, I am hooked on this place and that is why 2013 has been my 50th year of backpacking into this river canyon! Oh, I'm 19 years of age at this time and probably figured I was ten feet tall and bullet proof though I was just a silly kid enjoying myself. Still am!
So I assume you have add 19 and 50 and have come up with 69 years of age and in 6 months it will be birthday # 70. And yes I am Still hiking MY Canyon and actually I made an attempt of getting up into the area just 24 hours ago. I rode my motorcycle from Fremont up to the mountains but alas, roughly 40 miles short of "being" in the mountains, going through an uphill curve as I downshifted and rotated the gas lever nothing happened, no surge of power. I pulled over to a semi level spot and went for my tool kit which is underneath the seat. Well one locking lever released but not the 2nd and when I peaked in I would not see my tool kit anyway. I suspected I could use the idle control knob to increase the idle setpoint to move forward, I've turned it around now, and that is how I drove the 150 miles back to my apartment. Not the safest thing but then it was just another adventure.
Hiking the back country anywhere be it Michigan (Wisconsin) woods or mountains and canyons of the west can be an adventure and usually is however comparing the two I will take the mountains for Shear diversity. I've enjoyed sharing this place with my three children, the two girls first and then the late coming boy. Girls can do anything boys can and have! The son has been my companion in the outdoors the longest but even he has had to settle into his adult life and is trying to earn a living in Los Angeles(yuch). Sharing this canyon with my children has been among the joys of my life and I know they have enjoyed it as well. Shifting from the city to being out in the mountains with no town close by nor a house is such a dynamic change and the rules and responsibilities as well. One can now throw stones or play with a smoking stick and catch lizards and take them into the tent to play with them, letting them go after the play.
Yes indeed a whole bunch of stories and next year if I am still in California I will go again into my mountains though I still hope to finish the aborted trip I just returned from this month. Lots of lovely pictures, some gold, always adventures, neat places and things to find as after all, the North Fork of the American River is still in Gold Country and is always in God's Country. Were I to move from the mid west NorCal I would move north of Sacramento, say Roseville or Rocklin as either side by side town is growing, are large as is and have, I would think, plenty of need for experienced "first responders" of all types. One could certainly go further north say to Truckee or east or west of Roseville/Rocklin but I am less knowledgeable of those areas. I suppose it would be up to you to decide how small of a town you wanted to be in and therefore the possible security of the job.
So there is a short bit of history about myself and there are many stories, true ones as I do not need lies to make my stories interesting, between many bear encounters, rattle snakes, deer, canyon crawling, rappelling over cliffs, 18" to 24" Native Rainbow Trout, 3' German Browns, stranded overnight without gear, exploring and finding 200' and 500' waterfalls and on and on to finding gold. These adventures are moments and memories that will be with me till I decide to go home.
Be safe, be prepared ahh that reminds me - that first trip in February the only thing I brought with me that really counted was that I was seriously physically fit! No maps, no knowledge of the place, winter, soaked to the bone wet and still I made it back up the mountain and to a girl friends parents home where I met them for the first time. Quite a picture I'm sure as I was covered in mud and shaking from the cold air coming through the small broken section of the split windshield on the drivers side. All fun stuff and she was the woman I Should Have married for all the right reasons! Enjoy your life for all the good reasons!........................63bkpkr/Herb

 

[preshrunkmilk]

Congrats keep digging

 

[coinchaser]

Hey Badgergold I sent u a message. Dont know if it went thru

 

[BadgerGold]

Coin chaser


It did not...